The NHL’s March 3 Trade Deadline is approaching, and teams are making decisions on whether to buy or sell, and on which players can make the biggest difference and hold the greatest value. Check out today’s trade rumors and speculation from around the NHL beat.
Canucks to keep selling?
The New York Islanders wasted no time making the first move in the race to the trade deadline, acquiring Bo Horvat on Monday from the Vancouver Canucks for Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Raty and a protected 2023 first-round draft pick.
Vancouver is 14 points out of a playoff spot entering play Tuesday. With Horvat’s 31 goals this season – 19 percent of the team’s total – now removed from the lineup, more trades are expected to come from the Canucks.
“We’re definitely sitting at the bottom of the standings, so we need to improve our team,” Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin said after Monday’s move. “As we said when we got here (we’re) trying to get younger.
“We’ve got five weeks to the trading deadline, so I would assume that more calls will come along here.”
After re-signing Andrei Kuzmenko earlier this month and trading Horvat, the Canucks have just three pending unrestricted free agents on their roster. Defensemen Luke Schenn and Kyle Burroughs and goaltender Collin Delia are currently set to hit the open market this summer.
In the meantime, Allvin said Beauvillier will get a chance to play on one of the Canucks top two lines. He has nine goals and 20 points in 49 games this season, and is looking to find his form from earlier in his career, having only topped 20 goals once in 2017-18.
“I think it was important for us to get a first-round pick back,” said Allvin. “We got a young prospect in Aatu Raty, and we’re getting a 25-year-old player in Anthony Beauvillier that has been playing pretty consistently for the New York Islanders over the last couple of years.
“I like the details he plays with, his tenacity, his puck hunting. I think he will fit in well here in our top six group on the left side.”
Vancouver will move forward without a captain for now after trading Horvat, but Allvin said center Elias Pettersson and defenseman Quinn Hughes could be potential replacements for that role down the line.
With Horvat gone, who will the Bruins target?
Already holding the NHL’s best record this season, the Boston Bruins are expected to have buyers at the deadline, but may have to move down their list with Horvat now in Long Island.
Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic wonders if the Bruins were in on Horvat, but notes acquiring the center would have been a difficult deal for the Bruins to pull off, given the price paid by the Islanders.
Bruins president Cam Neely also told Shinzawa that acquiring a player with term – or one who could at least re-sign with Boston – has become an important part of their deadline plans.
“We have tried to get out of the rental mode,” Neely said. “You give up a lot of assets. Historically, rentals…one team wins a year. When you give up a lot of assets for a player that’s on an expiring contract, you have to decide, ‘OK, are we willing to do that?’ “
The Bruins’ biggest splash last season came in acquiring Hampus Lindholm from the Anaheim Ducks, signing the defenseman to an eight-year deal one day later.
Shinzawa believes the Bruins will still look into pending unrestricted free agents ahead of the deadline, listing Max Domi, Ivan Barbashev, Jack Roslovic and Ryan O’Reilly among his potential fits.
Will the Red Wings stand pat?
Sitting seven points back of the playoff spot, the Detroit Red Wings are hoping to convince general manager Steve Yzerman to at least stand pat at this year’s trade deadline.
The Red Wings, who have missed the postseason in each of their past six seasons, entered their All-Star break with a 2-0 loss to the New York Islanders on Friday, dropping their record to 21-19-8.
“We have to get our rest, get refocused, get reenergized to come back for a big push before the deadline,” veteran forward David Perron said after the loss, “and give Steve something to think about.”
The Red Wings have 12 pending unrestricted free agents on their roster, a list headlined by captain Dylan Larkin and winger Tyler Bertuzzi.
Larkin, who carries a cap hit of $6.1 million, has 15 goals and 43 points in 47 games this season. Bertuzzi, limited to 17 games this season, has one goal and five points this season while carrying a cap hit of $4.75 million.
“I hope that we can remain together and see it through and give it all we’ve got,” Larkin said last week. “We haven’t been able to do that in many years, but that’s my hope, to see this thing through and to stay in it and make going to the rink meaningful every day going down the stretch.”
Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press reported last week that the Red Wings have offered Larkin an eight-year, $64 million contract, but argued the center could be looking for a deal closer to the eight-year, $73.2 million contract Mathew Barzal signed with the New York Islanders in October.